Area 228 Real Estate and More : Follow Up To Last Week's Scam/Spam Alert|Turning the Table

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Follow Up To Last Week's Scam/Spam Alert|Turning the Table

By: Suzi Gravenstuk
Tuesday, November 13, 2007 11:12 AM

I am not that up on scam and Fraud laws by email. However, I plan to give this party interested in purchasing one of my listings a LOT of exposure. The scam artists must be studying how we work and market... (to have approached me through 2 screens I feel are fairly solid (AR and Point2 NLS)

Incidentally, I had two site unseen offers on my listings this week. One was only slightly less than list. I am still "flushing" him out. I said, "Agents have in fact sold site unseen properties by Internet without meeting buyers." Its Ironic that I received offers on two upscale listings within a day of each other. If it were valid, we would all have a VERY Merry Christmas, indeed.

I am skeptical because as an Broker using Internet marketing heavily, I have experienced being a scam target. As we discussed at listing, part of my fiduciary responsibilities is to protect your interests. Rather than deleting emails, I will flush them out. If there is a true and valid interest--I will know and you will receive an offer with validated earnest money and funding.

This is the first time, however that my listings have been targeted, and emails have come through my website AND Active Rain.

So, I vote for giving Kehinde Ralph a LOT of exposure on the Internet. We need to give him the REspect he deserves Can you guys think of anything else we can do for him?

Payback!

****************************************************************************************

From: Point2 NLS [mailto:noreply@point2.com]
Sent: Monday, November 05, 2007 2:51 PM
To: suzi@mgcre.com
Subject: [SPAM] Prospect Email - Purchase and Financing (The Oaks Golf Club Community)

Important:

This is a system sent email, replying to it will not send an email to your prospect. Use the email address link below.

05-Nov-2007

Prospect Email

You are receiving this message because a prospect has emailed you from your website.

Name:

kehinde Ralph

Email:k.ralph@safe-mail.net

Phone:

000000000

Comments:

Hi Suzi, I'm from greenville, MS. More to the point is the fact that i would like to obtain loan amount of $450,000 to purchase to (MLS® #183053). Do you originate residential and broker out purchases and refinancing? Best Regards Kehinde Ralph

M. Suzi Gravenstuk

Manage Prospect >>

You are wanting to put an offer on this property, site unseen? Please give us more details about your intentions. If you will supply a little more information, and include your physical address, phone #, a couple of references if it is okay with you, I will then ask several lenders to get in touch with you. They will want to know income details, tax returns, employment, etc. I will wait for your reply by email.
Suzi Gravenstuk, Broker MGC Realty, LLC HOFC: 228-863-4483 Cell: 228-229-9865
suzi@mgcre.com http://mgcre.com/

----- Original Message ----
From: kehinde ralph <k.ralph@Safe-mail.net>
To: mgcresource@yahoo.com
Sent: Thursday, November 8, 2007 11:07:38 AM
Subject: Re: Follow up

Thank your once more again i was the one that called earlier on just to let you know i'm serious about the purchasing of the property. Thank you for your time i do appreciate. I will just follow your lead. By God's grace there won't be no problem regarding whatever information you will be needing. Have a pleasant day.

Sincerely

Kehinde Ralph

-------- Original Message --------
From: mgcresource@yahoo.com
To: kehinde ralph <k.ralph@Safe-mail.net>
Subject: Re: Follow up
Date: Thu, 8 Nov 2007 05:47:57 -0800 (PST)

>

> > > > All that I am able to do is refer you to local lenders or online lenders. Will that work for you? They will want to know many details of your finances, personal contact information, etc.. Will there be a problem providing specific information? How much would you plan your down payment to be?> > > > Thank you, have a good day.> > > > There are many scams going on these days. Everyone in the financing and real estate industry has to be extremely cautious.
> > > Suzi Gravenstuk, Broker MGC Realty, LLC> > HOFC: 228-863-4483 Cell: 228-229-9865
> suzi@mgcre.com http://mgcre.com/> >
>
> > ----- Original Message ----
> From: kehinde ralph <k.ralph@Safe-mail.net>
> To: suzi@mgcrealty.us
> Sent: Thursday, November 8, 2007 7:12:14 AM
> Subject: Re: Follow up
>
>

> M.Suzi,

> Thanks for your quick response, sorry i took time before return your email. I'm from somerset city in kentucky. As earlier said in your email to me lol you said you did like to know more about me,i guess you are knowing me already by the email i'm establish to you.

> Currently i'm overseas on major assignment to Fill in for the Large contracts for oil exploration in certain offshore deep-water blocks. Though i'm specialized in Upstream Activities and Downsteam Activities Petroleum oil and gas .

> I would be perfectly honest with you, my mind revolves the specified property. I would be grateful if you can aid me regarding financing which is more of importance to me, at this point in time the property will serve as a future investment. In exchange for services i owe you one........lol.

> I look forward to your co-operation on this issue which will form a vital conerstone of property purchasing.

>
> -------- Original Message --------
> From: "Suzi Gravenstuk" <suzi@mgcre.com>
> To: <k.ralph@safe-mail.net>
> Subject: MLS 183053
> Date: Tue, 6 Nov 2007 15:24:50 -0600
>
> > Mr. Ralph, You have selected a fine home for your target property. It is located in an upscale Golfing subdivision. I do not provide financing, however I am always pleased to assist others find the right local financing for their needs. When would you like to see this home to make your offer?

> If I know more about you I will be able to assist you further. Please be aware that the Seller is my client. I may assist you with certain functions, but other functions would be a conflict of interest. This home priced at $725,000 is competively priced for the size and location. It is an ideal home for business entertaining, or any household. Let me know if you have further interest. Often times agents are approached by people pretending to be interested in a property when the real motive is to sell the agent something. I will be interested in assisting you if your interest is genuine. >

You have received a contact message from your Contact Form on the ActiveRain network.

Message details:
From: KEHINDE RALPH
Email: k.ralph@safe-mail.net
Subject: YES BUT THE WAS CHANGE IN PLAN

Hi,

Yes but like i said Please make this payments of $25,000 USD via WESTERN UNION MONEY TRANSFER
today directly to My accounting officer in Nigeria He's working with me though. All necessary information and As regards the payment made by you is essential in other to facilitate the procurement of necessary permits, licences. Security clearance a processing fee pusuant to the consumation of the transaction.

M. Suzi Kindly be informed that this transaction can be initiated with your acceptance of this proposal via correspondence Through the email
address your co-operation is highly anticipated and I would gratefully be appreciated.

BELOW ARE THE INFORMATION WITH WHICH YOU WILL SEND THE MONEY TO TODAY:

RECEIVER'S NAME: MR.SAMUEL OKOROAFOR
ADDRESS: IKEJA, LAGOS.
COUNTRY: NIGERIA
SENDER'S NAME: ?????????????
YOUR OWN ADDRESS: ?????????????
CONTROL NUMBERS: ?????????????
TEST QUESTION & ANSWER: SINCERE
ANSWER: COMPENSATION

Comments

Member Since '07	AL Azcano said: Suzi, You are trying to expose the Scam, but at the same time waisting your precious professional time on something trivial. Nigeria is well known for several years for sending e-mail Scams and worthless checks using Employment, Purchasing and Transfers offers. Nothing more than soliciting the good will of innocent people in other countries. ALL you had to do in this case is ask for a Domestic US Bank Qualification Certified Letter, from this Buyer, and disregard the showing of the Property as his ignorance in Real Estate matters. A little street smart will save you a lot of time. November 13, 2007 1:53 PM
Member Since '07	AL Azcano said: Hi Suzi, I'm from greenville, MS. More to the point is the fact that i would like to obtain loan amount of $450,000 to purchase to (MLS® #183053). Do you originate residential and broker out purchases and refinancing? Best Regards Kehinde Ralph "Obtain Loan Amount" to me it does NOT mean he wants to see the Property. What he is asking is a qualification for a Loan.He ven asking for "Origination of Purchase" ! How did you figure he wanted a showing? lol November 13, 2007 2:19 PM
Member Since '07	Craig Barrett said: Hi Suzi, This scam isn't creative or even the least bit funny. Check out www.ic3.gov November 13, 2007 3:12 PM
Member Since '05	Jana Davis & Virginia Houghton said: Hi Suzi, I think we have received two or three in the last couple of months. I would have played it out almost as long as you did. We can not be sure every client who wants to purchase a property will see this property in person. My nephew shops online. I liked the one on our $1.3 property from a person from TX, now living in England (whose English was worse then your friend) and hooked us up with his Barrister Tony... they kept asking if we had a home equity line on the property. I am sure all of you take out home equity lines on your sellers properties. NOT I do get even a bit... I set them up on every drip email I have available. Then after a few weeks block and delete them. The last one wanted land. Any land? Yes land for $1,000,000. Commercial, residential, what area... Any area... What do you want the land for. I want to build a home for orphans... OK over to my drip email...then block and delete. Jana November 13, 2007 6:19 PM
Member Since '05	Jana Davis & Virginia Houghton said: Al sometimes it is fun to play with them. See how far they will go. I think Suzi has enough information to actually report them. But someone it still going for the scam or the scammers would have moved on to the next one. Jana November 13, 2007 6:22 PM
Member Since '06	Suzi Gravenstuk said: Al, I guess that's one reason I am here and at Active Rain (RE: Street Smarts). One reason that I choose to be self employed is so that I can pursue that which is important to me. Incidentally, it didn't take much time. True, Nigeria is well known for scams. However in his beginning emails he said nothing about Nigeria. "Domestic US Bank Qualification Certified Letter", Thank you. That was a positive, non judgemental statement that may benefit readers other than myself. "How did you figure he wanted a showing?" to purchase to (MLS® #183053). I was looking for validation of sincere motives. As far as the amount of my precious, professional time--I felt it worth my time to find the truth, expose it, and fight back. It is different from the average of 10 "beloved" emails I get in a day. He came in the back way, on my turf. He "appeared" to be seeking a loan in order to by the listing. Then he asks me to send $25, 000.00-- Craig, Thank you for Ic3.gov. This is the kind of street smarts I am looking for. Yes, I do think it worthy of my time. Jana, I appreciate positive solutions. It was my first time that a listing had been approached in such a manner. This was my way of fighting back. I felt violated. Again, these were different to me, from the typical spams we have all been getting. Most likely I will always take time to expose attacks on our profession. If he Googles the name he has been using, he and many others like him will know that this scam is discovered and its basically -over- REgards, to all Back to a more constructive use of MY time:-) November 13, 2007 8:09 PM
Member Since '07	Leo Garcia said: This is part of the 419 Nigerian scam. I receive many of these however most go to spam because certain phrases they use. This guy seems smart because he left them out on the original email. He is even using a secured email account that can not be tracked and that let him know as soon as you read the email. Just delete. Earlier this year I received an email stating that they will pay me 10% for helping them transfer 1 million dollars from Nigeria to the US. I replied back that 10% was nothing for me and that I wouldn't do it for less than 20%. The following email they offered 30% "for all my troubles" and an hour later of reading the email, I received a call from a guy in Nigeria in extremely broken english wanting to get more details from me. I just hung up. There are hundreds of variations out there and its pretty common don't waste your time with this guy. Put him in all your drip campaigns and in every automatic email you can find; just for fun. November 13, 2007 10:11 PM
Member Since '06	Vance Remele said: This is part of the 419 Nigerian scam Exposed scam video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-wFhy0ouzI November 14, 2007 7:49 AM
Member Since '06	Suzi Gravenstuk said: Thank you Leo and Vance. I think I will develop a drip email campaign revolving around scams (Of course I will do this during "me" time, rather than my professional time). REgards, Suzi November 14, 2007 9:43 AM
Member Since '07	Leo Garcia said: Don't write a new campaign, just add his email address to your current buyer and seller campaigns so his inbox will fill up with your automatic messages. You can even put him on the MLS notification so he will receive every new listing and change in your area. Price range from 0 to no limit, and notification as soon as it is entered. He could easily get 300+ emails in one day and you don't have to do anything but put him in. This could be considered spam, but I doubt he will do anything about it. November 14, 2007 10:07 AM
Member Since '06	Suzi Gravenstuk said: Leo, this is great and exactly what I was looking for--Revenge for Real Estate Agents. November 14, 2007 10:16 AM
Member Since '06	Vance Remele said: Suzie Send them the link above to them ! they will go away for sure, ha ha Better yet here goes http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-wFhy0ouzI VanceTV November 14, 2007 10:23 AM
Member Since '07	Craig Barrett said: Suzi, Cyber security has been described often as similar to playing the whack a mole game. It's difficult to mitigate risk without another one popping up somewhere else. Likely all he'll do is set up another email account and try again on someone else if he hasn't already. My friend Al tried to save you some grief yesterday. November 14, 2007 11:04 AM
Member Since '06	Suzi Gravenstuk said: Craig, I choose counter attack, similar to stamping out other crimes. If we all thought, "What's the use? It doesn't effect me. Its not worth my time... Consider it a career related hobby. November 14, 2007 2:42 PM
Member Since '07	Craig Barrett said: Suzi, I certainly understand. It can be quite interesting. November 14, 2007 3:20 PM
Member Since '06	Suzi Gravenstuk said: I am satisfied. MY plan is to forward such emails to: spam@uce.gov and knujon@coldrain.net . Whether it works or not I will at least feel like I am doing something to empower myself. Thank you all for your suggestions, Your "Beloved:-) , "Loved One", and "Friend" November 15, 2007 12:33 AM